A Game of Magic
by Lordcraven
Summary: The Ministry of Magic struggles in wake of the defeat of the last dark wizard Aerys and the foolish leadership of Robert Baratheon whilst the Stark children attend Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry alongside other notable Westerosi characters
1. Chapter 1

**AN. So this is an idea that came to me a while ago and I'm just interested to see what the response is, if people like it I will continue to update on a regular basis hopefully, so take this as a kind of peek/chapter 1 of my planned story. A word of apology to any who expected to see the trio here as neither they nor any other major HP characters will crop up. Please leave a review as it gives me an idea of what you think.**

Jon woke up to the sound of Arya slipping on the staircase with her trunk, the resulting clatter purged any chance of further sleep as its significance was not lost on Jon. Today was the last day of the summer and that meant it was finally time to return to Hogwarts.

He stuck his head out of his door just in time to see Robb look sheepishly out of his own from across the hall, Jon started to laugh as he realised that Arya had not had an accident and rather was covering the sound of Jeyne's disapparition from Robb's bedroom. Jeyne Westerling was a Ravenclaw and Robb's girlfriend of three years now. Ever since she had turned seventeen her and Robb had been sneaking into each others house all summer. "Sleep well?" Jon asked, a smirk on his face. "Wouldn't you like to know" Robb bantered back. Jon laughed and turned back into his room to get dressed.

His snowy owl Ghost hooted at him from his cage and Jon sighed as he realised he had forgot to let Ghost out last night. He opened the window to let the owl out, briefly considering the cage Jon stuck it on top of his trunk with a sticking charm. A violent crack spit the air as the house elf appeared in his room. "Breakfast is ready young master" the diminutive creature stated in a somewhat regal tone. "Thanks Luwin" Jon replied, as he stepped towards the door, he could already smell the bacon wafting up the stairs and throughout the house.

Sansa was already seated at the table when he got to the kitchen, she was digging into a batch of fresh lemon cakes, not a hair out of place as per usual. "Where are Bran and Arya" Jon asked her, "Arya is out with Father exercising the hippogriffs and Bran is talking to Hodor" she said back to him.

Hodor was a giant who had recently arrived to live on the Stark estate of Winterfell, located high in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland it was the perfect place for a Rather small giant to hide in. Bran and Hodor had become fast friends for some reason and none of the rest of the family could fully understand it. Jon however understood exactly the longing Bran felt, as Hodor was one of Bran's few links to the Magical world outside of their family. Bran was a squib and it plagued him constantly.

Jon sighed as he helped himself to bacon and a bowl of porridge, as he was doing so Robb arrived in the kitchen still pulling his jumper over his head, "morning San" he grunted. Sansa replied with a withering look at her older Brother. "You do realise my room is directly below yours don't you" she stated, "and as much as it might please you I do not enjoy hearing my brother bonk all night long".

Robb took a long look at his sister and then laughed. "I really don't understand how on earth you got head boy mate" Jon said, "cause Professor Selmy thinks the sun shines out of his golden arse" shouted Arya from the door covered in mud from riding the hippogriffs. "Arya! Language! Admonished her father from behind her. Eddard Stark was dressed in riding leathers like his daughter but not half as muddy. "Now hurry up you lot or we will miss the train, our portkey leaves in forty minutes. Jon smiled at Eddard thinking back to his sorting ceremony when their relationship had changed so much, he understood why his father had kept the secrets he had but it was all so much easier amongst his family now.

"Jon stop daydreaming, move!" laughed a new voice from the kitchen, Jon was pulled out of his thoughts as Cateyln Stark smiled at him. Jon laughed as he realised he was the last child in the room and ran after Robb and the rest.

Once the entire family minus, Cateyln, Rickon and Bran were ready, they trooped out to the portkey which was a rusty screwdriver in front of the huge house. "Write to me soon" Cateyln waved t them from the front porch. Just before Jon felt the familiar tug in his stomach he spotted bran in an upstairs window with what looked like tears on his face. But before he could confirm it the portkey yanked them away.


	2. Chapter 2

There was nothing but darkness and a feeling of huge pressure as the portkey pulled the family from Ireland all the way to platform nine and three quarters and the magnificent scarlet steam engine that would carry them all the way to Hogwarts. Jon stumbled as he instantly stepped forward by accident almost colliding his trunk with Sansa's cat, Lady. Ned quickly hugged all his children good bye as they made a move towards the train, "stay safe all of you and for Merlin's sake Arya write to your mother you know she worries." "Sorry Father, what's that? I can't hear you" Arya shouted feigning deafness as she pushed her way towards a carriage. Ned simply sighed and shook his head. Jon looked around for his friend Sam but couldn't see him anywhere and Robb had already run off to find Jeyne so he turned back to Ned. "Come over here for a moment Jon" said Ned motioning him towards a quieter end of the platform. "You should know Jon that Daenerys and her brother have appeared in western Europe and the minister wants us to go after them." "Don't worry I'll be careful" Jon replied. Ned looked at him for a moment than nodded solemnly. "Now go you don't want to miss the train" he said.

As Jon climbed aboard the train he turned and waved goodbye to Ned who was walking off the platform, Jon turned to go and find himself a compartment, eventually he found an empty one next to a group of excited first years. They were all nervously chatting about what house they might end up in which brought Jon back to his own sorting nearly seven years ago.

 _Jon stood in the great hall with the rest of the first years his best friend and half brother Robb beside him. "Ok then first years you will all enter the hall with me I will then call you up one by one to be sorted is this clear?" barked the imposing figure of Professor Tarth. The doors of the great hall were pushed open and the first years struggled to keep up with the long strides of Professor Tarth, Jon caught Robb's eye and the pair grinned at each other. On either side of the hall were four long tables each seating a number of pupils and at the head on single table for the staff, the walls were lined with the banners of the four houses and behind each teacher was one of the ancient family banners that had fallen out of custom in everyday use. Jon knew each of the tables and the houses they represented by heart, there was Ravenclaw the house of Cateyln Stark populated by only the brightest, Huffelpuff, the house where anyone was welcome, Jon's spirit sank as he realised this was where most bastards ended up and was where he feared he would spend his years. Over to the left was Slytherin, this house was infamous for producing dark wizards like Aerys Targaryen and the new threat of Mance Rayder. Last but not least was Gryffindor, the house of the brave, Jon desperately wanted to end up here._

 _The procession of first years halted and Professor Tarth brought forward a ragged old hat and a stool. Jon was fully expectant of what would happen next as Ned's godson Theon Greyjoy had told him and Robb about the sorting ceremony already. Jon's gaze wandered around the hall as Professor Tarth began calling out the names of students off of a long piece of parchment. Jon saw Theon sitting over at the Slytherin table, over on the Gryffindor table sat Renly Baratheon a shining prefect's badge on his robes. Jon turned his attention back to Professor Tarth just as Joy Hill was sorted in to Huffelpuff. "Fuck" Jon whispered to himself as he recognised the bastard name and he knew with a sinking feeling in his stomach where he was going to end up. A few more students were sorted and finally Professor Tarth called out his name. "Jon Snow" she barked, Jon made his way up to the hat as Robb gave him a smile. Jon felt everyone's eyes on him as the hat was placed on his head. "Please not Huffelpuff" he thought to himself, "not Huffelpuff ay ?" a voice said back, Jon nearly jumed a mile into the air at the sound of it. He felt a sense of mirth in his mind and realised it was the hat talking to him. "So if you won't go into Huffelpuff how about Gryffindor like your mother?" Jon felt his heart jump into his mouth. "you know who my mother is?" "Of course my boy" the hat laughed, "now how about Slytherin like your father?" "My father was a Gryffindor", Jon said in shock to the hat. "You are the boy who is known as Jon Snow, yes?" "Of course I am" Jon shot back at the hat, "you are very impulsive boy to be so aggressive to an old hat, hmm yes I think for you it shall be, GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat and the Gryffindor table erupted into cheers. As Jon walked towards the table he heard the booming voice of the hat behind him, "and it's Jon Targaryen by the way". There was a moment of silence and then the hall exploded in noise._

Jon smiled to himself at the thought, the resulting pandemonium had been immense with Professor Selmy immediately coming down from the staff table and pulling Jon into a side room, needless to say Eddard Stark had been summoned at once and the whole story had come out, how Lyanna was Jon's mother and the secrecy regarding his true parentage had all been to protect him from his grandfather's mad followers. Thankfully this had worked out in Jon's favour as there were many descendants of dark wizards in Hogwarts at the time so he was not considered a social pariah as he had feared and another advantage was his relationship with Cateyln Stark had finally improved.

Jon frowned as he thought about the appearance of his aunt and uncle in the west and what that might mean for him. He was pulled from his thoughts by the appearance of his rather large friend Sam at the door to his compartment, smiling Jon stood up to let him in, his grin widened as he saw his other two friends Pyp and Grenn standing in the doorway just behind Sam. "Well come on then move and let us in" Sam smiled at him. As his friends sat down they began exchanging stories about the summer and naturally the conversation switched to this year in Hogwarts. "Do you think Professor Thorne will still have it in for us this year Jon?" asked Grenn. "I don't know why the pair of you even picked defence for NEWT level" scoffed Sam, "what?" laughed Pyp "would you have them do history of magic like you?" "Jon does history too, and I think Professor Lannister is really good" Sam shot back. Jon smiled it was good to see Sam coming out of his shell, he remembered when Sam first appeared in the Gryffindor common room, a look of pure fear upon his face and many had questioned his right to be there at all. But Sam did have a point Tyrion Lannister was an excellent teacher when he wasn't drunk which in fairness to Pyp appeared to be half the time.

"Did anyone see Margeary at the station earlier?" asked Grenn, "no why" Jon grinned. "Oh you missed out" laughed Pyp, "I mean she was sexy enough before the summer she only got better these past few months." Jon laughed as the conversation turned towards girls and his friends began to compare summer flings.

...

Ned left the station as quickly as possible, he was already late for a meeting with the minister and he needed to swing round his office first to gather some files for the briefing. Reaching a quiet alley way Ned turned on the spot and apparated into the lobby of the ministry, he quickly made his way across the lobby towards an elevator, pausing briefly in front of the monument to the dead depicting the names of those who had fallen in the last war he looked for his brother and sister's names alongside his father's. Ned did this every day as he felt it kept them alive in some way.

Entering the elevator he nodded his greeting to Walder Frey and Roose Bolton on their way to the department of mysteries. Taking the elevator to the third floor he quickly ran down to his office, stopping outside the door he fumbled his keys as he unlocked it he glanced up to the flowing cursive writing on the door,

 _Eddard Stark, Minister for Ireland._

Grabbing the report on his desk he turned and ran back to the lift taking it to the top floor, he sprinted down the hallway until he came to a halt outside the minister of magic's office. He turned the handle and stepped in. He saw he was late as the meeting had already started. "Gods Ned hurry up" Robert Baratheon the minister of magic laughed at him. Robert was a slightly obese man and it hurt Ned to see his friend in such a state especially after how he looked when they were two young Aurors being trained by Jon Arryn.

"Sorry Minister sir" Ned replied with a smile on his face. "Not to worry you only missed Mr Slynt's report on the Gold Wands" Robert said in an air of complete boredom. Ned looked across the room and nodded in apology to Janos Slynt. The Gold Wands had been set up by Robert once he gained the position of minister and as of note was the only good idea he had had. Designed as a division of the DMLE their job was to patrol and monitor the city of London's magical districts.

Ned took up his position in the room between Jaime Lannister, the head of Robert's bodyguard and the man who had killed the mad wizard Aerys. To his other side was Stannis Baratheon the deputy minister. Also present in the room was Petyr Baelish the financial advisor and Renly Baratheon who was senior aide to Robert. Tywin Lannister the minister for Wales was notably absent. Although he rarely left the country he represented anymore. "Now onto business" barked Robert "we need a new Head Auror". Jon Arryn had recently passed away leaving a much needed space to be filled. "Ned I want you to take over the department" Robert barked. "Minister I'm sorry but I'm happy where I am." "I don't care what you want, I'm the minister god damn it." Ned sighed as he knew he was fighting a losing battle, "but what about my current position as minister for Ireland?" Ned knew this line was not going to hold Robert back for long and it didn't, "for fuck's sake Ned there is always going to be another man who can manage Ireland, you are the only man I trust with the Aurors" Robert said scathingly, "and another thing I'm the minister, you do as I command or I'll throw you into Azkaban for a spell" he laughed. "Fine I'll do as you command, but may I recommend Rodrik Cassel as my replacement" Ned sighed. Robert huffed and the meeting continued. Ned noticed Robert barely paid attention to the proceedings and instead appeared to be slugging back firewhisky for the duration of the meeting. A half an hour later they were dismissed and just as Ned was about to leave Robert called him back, "Ned stay a moment will you". Ned could hear the slight slur in his speech and realised he had indeed been slugging firewhisky throughout the meeting. "Ned I just wanted to thank you for taking the position, my wife keeps trying to make me appoint Jaime as head Auror." Robert paused to take a breath as if he was going to say something more and then deciding against simply dismissed Ned with a wave of his hand.

Renly Baratheon was waiting outside the door as Ned left the room. "Ned a word if you will" he said beckoning. Ned followed the young man down the corridor to his office. "Yes?" he said once the door was closed. "Just a warning Ned, Robert is caught up with the Targaryen children again, he wants us to go after them. I'm just warning you so you can be ready to protect Jon if necessary." Ned looked at Renly carefully and then nodded before replying "I thank you for your warning but Robert has already told me and what more he promised Jon was exempt due to the fact he was born after Aerys and Rhaegar both died." "I know which is the only reason I'm warning you as he said the same about Daenerys, yet he wants us to go after her now for some reason" Renly sighed. "I'm sure you understand the problems Robert is causing as minister and with this duelling tournament he wants organised as well we are hard pressed, Mr Baelish says we are several million galleons in debt and rising." Ned was stunned he knew that the financial situation was dire but he had had no idea of the full levels of debt. "I'll have words with him Renly don't worry." Renly smirked. "Of that I have no doubt but the true question is will he listen?"

 **AN. Ok so a couple of things, first of all the minister of Ireland and minister of wales thing is my equivalent of warden of the north and warden of the west. Obviously geographically this makes no sense but from a Harry Potter perspective I can quite easily see this situation occurring with a department to specifically manage an area under the ministry's control. The only reason I used Ireland instead of Scotland for Ned was just cause I felt worked better and this will become more apparent later on plus its where they film the north in GoT. So next chapter will probably be a history of magic lesson with Tyrion on my version of Robert's rebellion and a little more on Jon's parentage. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review.**


	3. Chapter 3

Jon awoke in his bed just as the first rays of sun were coming in through his window. Sighing he got out of the four poster to stumble his way to the bathroom and relieve himself. He splashed cold water on his face and returned to the seventh year boys dorm which he shared with Grenn, Pyp and Sam. He smiled as he sat on his bed seeing Pyp drool out of the corner of his mouth. Sam groaned as he rolled himself out of bed and began getting dressed. Grenn was nowhere to be seen although Jon guessed by the absence of his broom he was probably flying laps in preparation for this year's Quidditch tournament. Jon dressed quickly smiling as he brushed his finger against the shi ny prefect badge affixed to the front. "Should we wake him" Sam whispered gesturing towards Pyp. "Don't worry I'm awake" Pyp mumbled from amongst the blankets, "go on without me I'll catch up."

Jon and Sam made their way down the stairs and to the Gryffindor common room, passing Arya on the way to the portrait with her two friends Hot Pie and Gendry. As he made his way out of the portrait hole Jon wondered at the name Hot Pie, as far as he could remember it was something to do with a bet and the house elves in the kitchens.

On their way down the stairs they passed Robb and Jeyne on the way down from the Ravenclaw tower with Sansa a bit behind them. Robb pulled Jon briefly to the side as Jeyne and Sam made conversation ahead of them, "Do you want to go for a run tonight" he said, there was a smile on his face much too wide for the morning thought Jon in humour. "Really?" He laughed, "we've been back less then twenty four hours and you already want to go running?" "Course don't you?" Jon had to admit he had a point and so with a smile to match Robb's he agreed. They made their way into the great hall slowing down to allow Sansa to catch up. Jon and Sam made their way towards the Gryffindor table as the other three began walking towards the Ravenclaw table.

As Jon sat down and began helping himself to dome scrambled eggs he felt a clap on his back as Grenn sat down beside them, broom in hand. "Good flying?" Jon asked. "Great, I was thinking about tactics for our first match this season." Grenn was the captain of the Gryffindor team and one of the beaters whilst Jon played chaser. The first match for this season was against Hufflepuff and Green was taking the whole affair very seriously.

Professor Tarth descended from the staff table, a large bundle of parchment in hand. She began to distribute them amongst the students and Jon quickly realised she was handing out schedules for this year's classes. As soon as he received his he quickly glanced at it to find out what his first class was. He smiled as he realised he had a free period first thing. Relaxing he finished off his eggs. Pyp eventually turned up just in time to scoff down some toast before running off to arithmancy.

Jon and Sam made their way back up to the tower to gather their things for the classes ahead, they both grabbed their history books as they had history of magic first. Swinging his bag onto his shoulder Jon left the comforts of the common room and stepped out into the hall to make his way to class closely followed by Sam.

Jon and Sam made their way to Professor Lannister's classroom on the third floor, pausing briefly outside his door to allow a small horde of first years to leave. Jon amused himself by examining a portrait of Bran the builder, supposedly the wizard who had constructed Hogwarts for the four founders, Bran smiled back at him and then promptly walked out of his painting. Jon turned back to the door which had now finally cleared. Tyrion Lannister was sitting at the front of the room his short legs firmly planted on his desk as he leaned back in his chair.

"Well then if it isn't the two fools who decided to take my class to NEWT level" he laughed. "Hello professor" Jon and Sam laughed back. "Alright lads grab a seat and we shall get started. So where were we before the summer? Ah of course Aerys the mad and his disastrous fall from power." Tyrion paused for a moment, looking at Jon he continued. "So obviously you both had family members who took part in this war so I presume you both have a solid grounding already but there is no harm in refreshing the mind. So Sam what caused the break out of war?" "Well sir it could be argued that the war inevitable due to the destructive financial policy of Aerys, but the eventual catalyst was the Manchester duelling completion." "Well put Sam five points to Gryffindor, now Aerys's son Rhaegar, your father Jon, was one of the best duellists in the country and it was inevitable that he would win the competition but the problem was that he chose Lyanna Stark as his queen of love and beauty upon his victory, where as many expected him to pick his wife Elia Martell." Again Tyrion stopped here, "Now it must not be forgotten that the dissolution of his marriage to Elia Martell was yet to be finalised and so this caused much outrage with the Martells who were some of Aerys's staunchest supporters in his position as minister. In the resulting pandemonium both Rhaegar and Lyanna slipped out of the hall and disappeared, many were convinced that Lyanna had been kidnapped. This led to Jon's grandfather and uncle to make their way to the ministry to demand that Aerys issue a warrant for his son's arrest. No one is quite sure of the conversation that ensued but all we know is that by the end both men were lying dead at Aerys's feet. He then proceeded to demand the capture of both Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon who was well known to be in a relationship with Lyanna." Jon looked down at his desk embarrassed by the amount of pain and destruction his parents had caused in order to be together. "Now the head auror at the time Jon Arryn immediately spirited the two away as they both trainees within his department, along with just under half the department and various other members of the ministry they fled into hiding. Six months later a rescue mission was led by Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn on Azkaban where many of their supporters had been imprisoned before they could escape. This was the point where Aerys began to fear that Robert was a legitimate threat to his rule and so mustered his supporters to take on the rebels. This was when Jon Connigton, the new head auror led his men in a decisive raid on a rebel safe house where Robert was known to be hiding and rcovering after losing a duel to Sam's father Randyl Tarly. As Connignton and his men began breaking down the magical defences on the building Eddard Stark and his forces arrived. The combined rebel forces defeated the loyalists and Jon Connignton was exiled for his failure by Aerys. This was the moment Rhaegar chose to return from where he had been hiding with Lyanna. He led a huge force of loyalist men against the now formidable force of the rebels not a stone throw away from this very castle in fact." Tyrion paused as Sam interrupted him. "But why would Rhaegar have supported Aerys when many accounts claim he was a good man and not a dark wizard like Aerys." "A good point Sam and to be completely honest with you we don't actually know why Rhaegar supported his father, perhaps it was just a sense of loyalty to his family and his minister but as I said we don't know his exact reasoning for fighting against the rebels all we can do is presume." The diminutive man stopeed speaking and stood up from his desk to go and stand by the window. He looked out across the castle grounds and sighed before he began to speak again in a softer voice. "On the other side of this very lake the two armies clashed, Robert and Rhaegar met in the centre of the battle and faced each other in single combat, they fought long and hard and eyewitnesses say that the ground smoked and cracked around them such was the intensity of their magic. But then it was all over, Robert cast a blasting curse which caught Rhaegar just under the chin snapping his neck instantly.

It is said that upon hearing of his son's defeat Aerys flew into a terrible rage, he locked himself away for three days and refused to accept either food or drink. It was at that moment that Tywin Lannister, my beloved father" Tyrion scoffed, "chose his moment to declare for a side, he arrived at Aerys's mansion with two of his closest allies, Gregor Clegane and Armory Loch. At the same time as this Aerys's was ordering the young auror and my brother Jaime Lannister to face his father and kill him for treason whilst Eddard Stark was besieging the Ministry. As my father breached the defences of Aerys's mansion Clegane and Loch were sneaking into the building via a servants entrance. They made their way to the room where Elia and her children were and proceeded to kill them all to ensure that once Aerys fell there would be no figure head for his supporters." He sniffed a look of utter disgust upon his face, "for the honourable killing of children Clegane and Loch were awarded the Order of Merlin third class." Tyrion's voice dripped with sarcasm. "My brother chose the moment that my father breached the defences to turn on Aerys killing him with a simple spell, avada kedavra." "But why was he not thrown into Azkaban as a result?" Jon asked dumbfounded, "I mean surely people know about this." "Of course they know Jon but history is written by the victors and anyway Robert pardoned all who fought for his side after he became interim Minister until the elections could be held, which he quite obviously won as no one votes against a war hero."

Tyrion grinned at his two students, "and then of course we have our little celebrity here and his part to the story." Jon grinned right back at him. "So the honourable Eddard Stark went off to rescue his sister from the depraved dungeon she was kept in only for him and his companions to in fact discover her in a villa on the French coast happily married to her supposed captor with a small bundle of joy in her arms," he japed. Jon and Sam laughed along with him. "But upon their arrival they discovered the presence of the last of Aerys's disciples who had come to claim his supposed heir as their new dark lord." Jon grimaced at this, he never liked being reminded of what some people would use him for. "So of course keeping with the style of war there was one last battle between the Stark men and the loyalists led by Gerold Hightower. By the end there were only two men left standing Eddard Stark and Howland Reed, upon which point they found you Jon, your mother having been hit with an errant sectumsempra." Jon knew the rest of the story well as Ned had told it to him after his sorting many times. He ignored the rest of Tyrion's lecture on the after effects of the war and his thoughts led him to the moment when his adoptive father had explained his reasoning behind passing Jon off as his own son. The reason had been simple the magical world could not be allowed to know of Jon's true parentage until he was of an age where he could protect himself and not be used as a figure head for one dark crusade or another, Ned had fully planned to inform Jon just at much late point than the hat had seen fit.

Sam nudged Jon in his side towards the end of his class and awakened from his thoughts Jon just managed to catch the last of the lecture. "And so for this class next week I want a foot of parchment from each of you on the Night's Watch, their formation and why they failed to intervene during Robert's rebellion, alright off you go now." Tyrion turned and went back to his desk. Jon and Sam stood and shouldered their bags as they left the class room. On the way out Jon noticed Brandon hadn't returned to his portrait. "what have you got next?" Sam asked, Jon checked his timetable and then swore, "shite, I've got defence with Professor Thorne." Sam smiled, "well then would help if I told you I've got a free period now?" "You always know what to say Sam" Jon japed. Jon turned away from his friend and went off towards his next class, his mind abuzz with thoughts on Tyrion's lecture, he didn't see the girl until it was too late and he had already bumped into her knocking the books out of her arms before he realised what was going on. "Oh sorry didn't see you" he mumbled. The girl looked at him her eyes flashing in anger. It was at that point that Jon realised how pretty she was and then about half a second later he realised exactly who he had the misfortune of bumping into. It was Ygritte, a seventh year like him but a Slytherin. Her fiery red hair was infamous around the school for being involved in many corridor duels and fights, rumour had it she had defeated Theon Greyjoy in a duel when she was only a second year all the more impressive as he had been sitting his defence NEWT at the time. "Well" she snapped "are you going to pick them up or not" she said gesturing at her books strewn across the floor. Jon hastily bent down to begin gathering them up. From his vantage point he couldn't help but notice what lovely legs she had and had to quickly glance somewhere else before he gave himself away. Once he had gathered all the books Ygritte snatched them from his hands a scowl on her face as she marched off to her next class. Jon couldn't help but grin as he realised she was heading straight for the defence classroom as well. How had he not noticed her in his class last year he thought to himself shaking his in wonder. Walking into the classroom behind her he realised there was a grin plastered across his face and quickly stopped smiling lest she saw it.

Taking a seat beside Grenn and Robb he plonked his bag under the desk and focused his attention on Professor Thorne at the front of the room.

The man stood there, a scowl upon his face although he saved a particular look of disgust for Jon. No one knew quite why Professor Thorne hated Jon but Jon himself believed it was something to do with Thorne having been a supporter of Aerys the mad.

"Sit down" Thorne barked at the few students who were still standing, a complete silence settled on the room as all eyes turned to Thorne. "Now you probably all presume that this year will be easy, that you will just coast along like last year, well you're wrong. I am going to push you to your very limits this year and if you can't handle that you can get out of my class now. So if you have finished with your little chit chats its time to do something worthwhile. You!" He shouted pointing at Grenn, "get up here, and you", this time Thorne pointed at Ramsay Snow the Slytherin Prefect. "Prove to me that you are both worthy of being in my class, you will duel at the front of the class now and prove that nothing has been forgotten over the summer" he growled.

Ramsay with a sly grin on his face stepped up to the front and Jon's stomach sank, Grenn was a good duellist but Ramsay was in a whole different league, this would not end well for his friend. Evidently Grenn knew this too as he was noticeably sweaty as he stood to take his place. "Begin" yelled Thorne.

The match was overly short and Grenn had barely succeeded in getting up a shield charm before Ramsay hit him with a volley of well placed jinxes and curses, he managed to rebound a jelly legs jinx off the wall to hit Grenn's unprotected back knocking him out of the fight in an instance. Jon and Robb sighed at their friend's defeat. "Pitiful" Thorne spat glaring at Grenn.

Robb leaned over to whisper in Jon's ear as Grenn made his way back to their table, "still up for that run later." Jon turned and grinning replied "course I am." Satisfied Robb kept quiet for the rest of the class as Thorne lectured on the differences between wights and inferni. "Targaryen" Jon sighed as Thorne's attention turned to him, "what is the difference between a wight and an inferni?" "A wight is a corpse which has been animated by an other and an inferni is a corpse which as been animated by a dark wizard." Thorne scowled and began drawing a diagram on the chalkboard of the wand motion required to cast a sensor spell for undead creatures. Jon felt his eyes drift along the tables until they rested on the back of Ygritte's head, god she was beautiful he thought to himself. He quickly glanced down at his notes when she turned around briefly to take a new quill out of her bag. Shaking his head in bewilderment Jon paid attention to Thorne again.

At the end of the class Thorne set them a foot of parchment on methods used to distinguish between wights and inferni. Jon could barely believe it only two classes in to the year and already he had two essays to write. At least there was the run this evening to look forward to he thought.

 **AN. Hope you enjoyed this chapter please leave a review as it gives me an idea of what you like and don't like. Thanks!**


End file.
